Newcastle soul, jazz and funk renegades Smoove & Turrell bring their groove to The Bongo Club for a special live show, promoting new album Broken Toys, with support from Lights Out By Nine.
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‘Always a pleasure to hear new material from the boys, it’s a great album’ Gilles Peterson (BBC 6 Music)
Newcastle’s finest Smoove & Turrell are back in June with their third studio album Broken Toys. Their rise through the ranks of British soul has been nothing but unstoppable, here’s a little recap why:
First album Antique Soul scored some heavy points with singles I Can’t Give You Up, You Don’t Know & Beggarman, gaining the lads two Records Of The Week on Radio 2 (Radcliffe & Maconie) and their first ever-national playlist on 6music. The original 7” of the northern soul banger I Can’t Give You Up still changes hands for up to £160 on the net. This propelled Smoove & Turrell to headlining stages at festivals such as Glastonbury and Big Chill to name a few, not bad for an unknown Geordie band.
Any worries about a difficult second album were brushed aside when S&T released Eccentric Audio, in 2011. With Smoove’s timeless production skills and a confident John Turrell at the top of his game both lyrically and vocally, Eccentric Audio saw the boys break through onto national TV & Radio playlists throughout the UK and Europe. Getting two Radio 2 playlists with singles Hard Work and Gabriel and MTV Europe and Virgin Media playlists with single Slow Down.
With the word starting to spread across the pond to America, S&T tracks could be heard on as many things as network giant ABC’s prime-time campaign, feature film For A Good Time Call, video game The Crew and international smash hit series like The Finder and World of Jenks.
Back on home turf, the track Hard Work was used on a national advertising campaign as well as others being used on a host of prime-time TV shows such as Match of the Day, Strictly Come Dancing, Splash & Coronation Street, opening up S&T to yet a wider audience again.
Live performance highlights saw the boys perform in venues as varied as the legendary terrace in Space Ibiza, it took them as far a field as Moscow and Dubai, it let them play to the whole of Marseille from the ramparts of a castle and led them to support the one and only Nile Rodgers & Chic. Broken Toys was released in 2014, another jump forward both in terms of production and appeal. Sparkling pop songs flirt with disco influenced floor stompers in between the blues, jazz, funk & soul the boys are so well known for.
First out of the blocks was double A side single – Lay It On Me / I Just Want More, with airplay from Gilles Peterson (BBC 6Music) and Lisa Tarbuck (Radio 2), followed by the
barnstorming Will You Be Mine and Now or Never.
2014 ended with a bang, touring Germany, Netherlands, being personally invited to
headline a stage at Transmusicales Festival in Rennes, France. Followed by three sell-out home-town shows in Newcastle.
Smoove and Turrell have been back and forth from Europe this summer, performing at
festivals in Italy, France and Genste Feesten in Ghent and they finish 2015 with a show at The Forum, London, with Cymande.
Location
The Bongo Club
66 Cowgate
Edinburgh
EH1 1JX
